Herdwick tales: breed and belonging in the English Lake District. Issue 4 (1st October 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Parry, Catherine
• Is Part Of: Green letters. Volume 24:Issue 4(2020)
• Page Start: 406
• Page End: 420
• Publication Date: 2020-10-01
• Subjects: Herdwick sheep -- shepherding -- English Lake District -- life-writing -- animal Studies; Ecocriticism -- Europe -- Periodicals; Ecocriticism; Europe; Periodicals; 809.933553
• DOI: 10.1080/14688417.2020.1845768
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1468-8417

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Human-animal relationships in farming are complex, with husbandry and sincere attachment to animals enmeshed with the economics, politics, and socio-cultural conditions that shape farming. In these often competing factors, the breed of animal a farmer works with can play a significant role in the human-animal relationship, binding them with farming methods or traditions, land and the aesthetics of region and landscape, and functioning as a very specific object of pride and identity. In James Rebanks's 2015 shepherd's calendar memoir, The Shepherd's Life: A Tale of the Lake District, Herdwick sheep perform such a function. For Rebanks, Herdwicks can be shepherded using ancient methods which are both sustainable and in keeping with the ecology of the English Lake District. The Shepherd's Life is his claim to the validity of Herdwick shepherding as a method of food production, land management and human spiritual satisfaction fit for a climate-changed future.